The Last of the Uzumaki's
by stickzx
Summary: Naruto is rescued by his uncle at a young age from members of Akatsuki, he is taken to his grandfather to be trained, he comes back years later to rebuild the Uzumaki Clan in Konoha. NaruIno pairing.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or Bleach. 

A/N: I just felt the urge to right and I felt like writing this.

Summary: Yondaime sent a message to his brother before he died to take care of his son, Naruto; his brother is a member of an early Akatsuki and decides to betray them to save his nephew.

* * *

Chapter 1

_Dear Little Brother,_

_ It seems that in the end, you always think about your beginnings and the memories of my childhood are filled with many emotions. One of those feelings, if you never knew, was jealousy._

_ Father may have chosen me to become his successor, but I always felt like a prisoner among our clansmen. That is the reason why I followed the same path you had chosen and left one year after you had.  
_

_ Two years after I had left I found out that our clan was wiped out by a mysterious group; only three survived, two of those survivors were you and me, but you knew that didn't you? I am sure though that you don't know the other person that survived, it turned out dad survived as well. He however has chosen to live in exile; he now lives in the mountains we used to play in, because he had failed to protect our mother. _

_ It's getting pretty boring listening to me talk about our past, right? So I shall get to the point, there is only two things I regret in life, one of these things is running from my duty to the clan. The other one shall be the burden I leave my newly born son with, the Kyuubi No Kitsune has finally decided to grace our village with it's presence and the only way I shall be able to stop it is to seal it in a newborn. I guess you can figure it out by now, that is why I ask for you to fulfill my last wish. Please take my son, and bring him to father, I was not brave enough to fulfill my duty to our clan. So I shall only pray that my son, and your nephew, can do it in my place. Naruto will be in the Hidden Village of the Leaf, I shall not be alive by the time this reaches you so you shall be on your own. Below this letter is detailed information about where he shall be kept, I fear some of my subordinates do not see my son as the hero he is supposed to be. So please take care of my son, I beg of you. Forgive me brother; forgive me for putting such a burden on you. _

_Your Brother,  
Uzumaki Arashi, Yondaime Hokage._

Uzumaki Renji remembers every word of the letter his brother had sent him through his family's secret summon animal, the white owl. Uzumaki Renji had always disliked his brother ever since they were old enough to compete against each other for their father's favor. In the end however his brother had won and became the heir of the prestigious Uzumaki Clan, he had opted to leave the clan after his bitter rivalry with his brother had ended.

Two years after he left he had heard news that his clan had been wiped out, so he rushed back to find the bodies of his love ones among the rubble that he had once called his home.

He found one clue among the rubble and that was a piece of cloth with red clouds on it. He then spent the next five years of his doing research on the symbols that were etched on it and found out that it belonged to an ancient secret organization called "Akatsuki."

He spent the rest of his life getting close to the members and he eventually joined them, he found out later that the person who had wiped out his family was none other then the leader of the organization.

Members of Akatsuki are split up in two man groups who go on missions given to them by their leader through summons known only to the leader of each team. They then go and accomplish the mission through any means possible.

Renji had not intended to do anything for his nephew, but after learning that the organization had wanted him to lead a two man team to retrieve his nephew, Renji changed his mind. Naruto was the last hope for the Uzumaki clan and he does not intend to let his nephew fall into their hands.

* * *

Two cloaked figures stood on the walls of Konoha as they surveyed the city, these two figures had earlier infiltrated Konoha's West Gate and one of them had silently killed off all the guards except for one. The other cloaked figure one was currently standing over the last living guard.

The one standing over the guard was a man with a medium build; he was around 5'9 in height and was wrapped in a cloak which was decorated on the outside with red clouds that had white outlines. The figure wore a straw hat over his blonde hair and had piercing blue eyes.

After torturing the guard he then reached into his cloak to produce a weird shaped kunai. With a quick flick of the wrist the kunai embedded itself onto the forehead of guard; he then turned back to his partner, a tall man in his late 20's with a small build. The man also had long bony arms and legs, he wore the same cloak as the first man, and he had dark blue hair under his straw hat. He has a long katana which he strapped onto his back.

The two figures nodded at each other and quickly headed towards the Hokage tower, they easily infiltrated the tower and killed off all the guards that were stationed to protect their target.

The tall man then turned his back to the crib that was located in a small room and faced the hall way to watch for any guards that they may have missed. The shorter man reached the crib, but instead of picking up the target he drew three shrukan's and threw them at his partner. The man formed hand seals and quickly muttered "Shurikan Kagebunshin-No Jutsu."

The taller man was struck with many projectiles and simply fell dead, the shorter man sighed in relief. He bent down and quickly grabbed the baby, but before he could leave a sword pierced through his stomach skewering him. He jumped forward crashing over the crib, but still holding onto the baby, and released himself from the sword.

He looked towards his attacker to only gasp at the site that was in front of him. The taller man who he had thought dead, stood there with absolutely no wounds.

The taller man smirked and said "Well, well, well…. It seems you have decided to finally show your true face Uzumaki Renji."

Renji was shocked and replied "How long have you known…. And how did you find out?"

The taller man snorted out "The organization has known ever since you had first contacted them fool."

He had a smile on his face and continued "We've been running things for a long time Renji; the leader had planned everything from your leaving to the birth of your nephew. We knew your brother would sacrifice himself for this village so we summoned Kyuubi here, as planned your brother sacrificed his life for this village to seal the fox into his son."

He leaned in and said "You and your family have been played for fools ever since you two were born. Our leader is picky in choosing his new body, so he set this all up just to get a body with unlimited chakra, provided for us by the Kyuubi, and your special family bloodline."

Renji growled and replied "You murdered my family, and orchestrated our lives for your own selfish goals? Unfortunately the Uzumaki's will not stand by and let this happen, I believe it's time for us to separate, partner?"

The taller man laughed and said "Do you really think you can beat me? You and I both know that my power exceeds your own, how do you plan on escaping fool? Even if you do, your body has been injected with a very special poison; you shall be dead in a few hours."

Renji smirked and said "I know I cannot beat you, however, I do have a surprise for you."

Quickly performing hand seals he smirked and said "Shunshin-No Jutsu."

The taller man saw his prey disappear and quickly remembered the strange looking kunai he had used to kill the guard earlier, he quickly exited the building and tried uselessly to reach the west gate before both Uzumaki's escaped.

* * *

Renji quickly ran into the forest as he knew his former partner would quickly try to catch up with them, he silently thanked his brother for explaining how to do Shunshin-No Jutsu in the letter that he had received. After reaching a big clearing, out side of Konoha, he bit his thumb and then quickly did a hand seal before slamming his hand to the ground.

He yelled out "Kuchiyose-No Jutsu."

A giant white owl appeared before him as he jumped on it's back, he told the bird to fly "home" as he set the child down in front of him. He then quickly performs a couple hand seals as he tried feverishly to close his wounds and try to extract the poison. One thought ran through his head as he began to realize what was going to happen.

"I only have enough chakra to either heal myself or continue to hold this summon until it reaches home." He knew if he didn't heal himself soon he was going to pass the point of no return and die."

Renji smiled as he quickly dropped his hand, he muttered "Looks like I'll be joining you soon brother." He picked up his nephew as they continued to ride to the only place he can ever call home, the great western mountains.

A man watched as a white owl flew past him over head; a tall figure slowly approached him and kneeled.

The tall man replied "All is going exactly how you planned it master, he has no idea that you planned this as well. May I ask however, why did let your new body get away?"

The man replied "Patience, my loyal minion, my new body shall be trained by one of the strongest swordsman ever. After he learns all of their secrets I shall simply take it with ease, besides we have much work to do. How goes the demon sealing in the sand?"

The tall man replied "Our agents in the sand report that all goes according to plan my lord."

The man replied "Perfect." He looked up towards the owl and said "See you in 13 years Uzumaki Naruto."

With that both figures simply vanished.

* * *

Uzumaki Sajin was currently meditating in his home, a cave turned into a house behind a waterfall. He sensed two chakras heading his way, one that was slowly diminishing and the other was huge. He slowly stood up and brushed himself off; he was wearing a black kimono and hakama with a white undershirt. He also wore a haori (An overcoat that are worn over kimono's that reach the thigh) and his head was bald, he had a long white beard and mustache.

He grabbed his black katana and came out of his house to "greet" whoever these intruders were. He was shocked when he came outside, in the air was a giant white owl, he knew that only his family knew how summon these special animals. Knowing that it was a family member only enraged him, there were only two people that could do this, and he almost disowned both of them before his clan was wiped out.

The giant owl landed and a figure dressed in a cloak with red clouds on it appeared. Sajin tensed as he remembered that cloak, that cloak was worn by the person who killed his family.

The figure stumbled over and said "Please father, please take Naruto."

Sajin growled and said "You abandon the clan and now you expect me to take your bastard son in? I want you to leave right now or it won't be your injuries that kill you, Renji."

Renji looked up with pain on his face before saying "Father please, this is not my son, it is Arashi's…. After the clan's death I joined this organization to find the killer… A couple days ago, Arashi sent me a letter saying that he was going to die sealing a great demon in his son. A little later I found out the man who killed our clan orchestrated everything, from the very beginning, to gain control of Naruto."

Renji looked his father in the eyes and said "Please, he is the last hope for our clan. Please take him and train him."

Sajin looked his son in the eyes and sighed "How can I accept Arashi's son? He also has betrayed the clan."

Renji said out weakly "Because father, in the end, Arashi was the one who wanted his son to do what he admitted he could not. Please father, please train Naruto so he can rebuild our clan."

Sajin thought for a long time before he muttered a weak "Leave him, I shall look after him. However you need medical attention."

Renji smiled as he set the boy on the ground and said "Sorry father, it is to late for me, I am almost out of chakra and there is still one thing for me to do. I must go to the sand to warn them about their demon or they too shall be fooled by Akatsuki."

Renji smiled at the boy and said "Good bye Naruto, live a happy and carefree life."

With that Renji climbed onto his owl and flew towards the south, Sajin sighed deeply as he picked up Naruto.

He said quietly to Naruto "You are the last hope of this clan little one. I shall train you and when I die you shall become the last Uzumaki."

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto's upbringing was quite a strange one, under the watchful eye of his grandfather, Uzumaki Sajin; Naruto's training was one of the finest. In his early years he was taught strategy and psychological warfare, after turning 7 he was given his Katana and was promptly trained how to handle it.

If Sajin was ever asked to sum up what kind of student Naruto was he could only reply "Genius." Naruto soaked up everything he learned and mastered his family's unique taijutsu style, he then went on to master his family's sword style and a technique they called the "Flash Step." This technique allowed Naruto to move at incredible speed, it however was quite strenuous, it took a fair amount of chakra to perform the first step, it took double the amount to do the second and double that to do the third. The reason for this is simply because since moving at such a great speed the chakra had to cover for the lack of friction under the foot.

At Naruto's 10th birthday he was given his family's summoning, he signed the contract with the white owls and could now summon them if he wanted. Naruto also learned a lot about being a ninja, but he lacked in the ninjutsu and genjutsu department. Uzumaki's each had to make up their own jutsu's and Naruto was no different.

Sajin also helped Naruto deal with his demon problem, both grandfather and grandson confronted the demon at an early age. Sajin informed the Kyuubi that he was manipulated by a person in a secret organization called Akatsuki. Kyuubi became enraged and vowed to help his host with whatever means possible to someday kill this man.

Naruto was quite happy with his life, except for the fact that the only person he ever talked to was his Grandfather. Naruto's grandfather had taught him all the things he needed to survive in the wilderness including: tracking, hunting, fishing, and even navigation by use of the stars. Since Naruto knew all of this he could never give a good excuse to go to town, Naruto wondered if he would ever see another person.

Tragedy hit Naruto, in the form of his Grandfather falling ill at the age of 85, Naruto was on his Grandfather's death bed when he first learned about Konoha.

Sajin looked up at his Grandson from his bed and smiled "Naruto, you have grown into a fine young man, I never once regretted taking you in when you were brought to me."

Naruto had tears in his eyes and replied "Please Grandfather, do not speak, you must save your energy so you can get better."

Sajin sighed and said "It is merely old age catching up to me grandson. Listen closely because I must tell you this next part before I die, it is about your father and uncle."

Sajin proceeded to tell Naruto about his father and his uncle. Everything from their leaving to their eventual death's, he then told him about Konoha and what he wanted his Grandson to do."

Sajin coughed for a bit and said "Naruto, I want you to go to Konoha after my death, I want you become a ninja there. When you are there build a life for yourself Naruto, I want you to be happy. Naruto, take this necklace, it is the clan's symbol, show it to the Hokage Sarutobi and he shall know what to do for you."

The old man coughed once more and continued "Promise me Naruto, that you'll pass on what I taught you. Promise me that you'll rebuild the Uzumaki clan and pass on what I taught you."

Naruto was sobbing now, but he nodded and said "I promise you grandpa; I promise you that I'll become the strongest Uzumaki ever and then rebuild the clan! I promise I won't let you down."

Sajin smiled and said "Do not worry Naruto; you have never let me down. You have learned everything I can teach you, everything else you can learn by yourself. Walk into my room and look into the cupboards, there you shall find a scroll with information on the Uzumaki's ultimate sword technique. Take it with you to Konoha Naruto and master it."

Sajin smiled and said his last words "I love you my Grandson, show the world what an Uzumaki can do, and when you find the man who killed our clan, remember to kick his ass in for me and your family."

With that Sajin coughed one last time and slowly, but surely took his last breathes of the world's air. Sajin died happily knowing that he passed on his family's secrets before he died.

* * *

Naruto buried his Grandfather where he was shown the family gravesite; Naruto buried him right next to his Grandmother and the rest of the clan.

It was hard for Naruto for a long time, he finally got the chance to leave and see the world, but he had lost his Grandfather whom he loved greatly.

Naruto knew however that he had to pull himself together so he started packing; he dressed himself in a black kimono and hakama, with a white undershirt. He did not wear a haori; he strapped his sword on to his back and wore normal ninja sandals. Naruto had short blonde spiky hair with big blue eyes and whisker marks on his face.

When he was done he had all his clothes in his backpack, he also carried with him all the things he needed in another bag he carried on his right hand. He brought with him everything that was important with him and locked the door to his house. Taking a deep breath in he reached into his shirt and grasped onto his necklace.

He muttered "I won't fail you Grandfather." And with that he began his long journey to Konoha.

* * *

Naruto had been traveling for 3 days straight and was beginning to tire as he reached the last leg of his journey. Although he was tired he simply pushed onwards and on the 4th day of his journey he arrived.

Although he had some trouble getting into the city due to the guards being suspicious of his sword, he was eventually let in. He then proceeded to the Hokage tower, after arriving he spoke with the secretary. An argument broke out about him trying to meet the Hokage and he was almost thrown out when Sarutobi, hearing the noise from inside decided to investigate.

Sarutobi calmed everyone down and led the boy into his office; Naruto however had to leave all his bags and weapons to be kept by the Hokage's guards. With that they both sat down and began their conversation.

Sarutobi started off and said "What brings you here to see me young man? Judging by your clothes you do not live around this part."

Naruto merely nodded at the comment and went straight to the point "My Grandfather sent me here to become a ninja."

Sarutobi frowned and replied "I regret to inform you that all ninja's start out at an early age and go through the Ninja Academy, after that they start as genin under the apprenticeship of Jounin's.

Naruto replied "As I suspected, but my Grandfather told me that you would know what to do when I showed you this." Naruto then pulled out his necklace and showed it to Sarutobi.

The Sandaime Hokage was shocked to say the least, the last time he had seen this was when he had met Uzumaki Sajin, the legendary swordsman of the elite Uzumaki clan.

Sarutobi got a hold of himself and replied "You must be an Uzumaki then, that necklace is only given to the clan heir when the previous clan head has died. I give my grievances to you young Uzumaki."

Naruto had a sad look in his eye and replied "Thank you, his passing was quite hard on me."

Sarutobi replied "Indeed he was a great man; however, I must know what do you plan on doing if you become a ninja here."

Naruto replied "I intend to rebuild the Uzumaki Clan here."

The Hokage blinked and couldn't believe his great fortune, the Uzumaki Clan is considered one of the most prestigious clans in history, if they were to rebuild in Konoha then Konoha would be fools to not let them.

Sarutobi replied "I shall get everything worked out; I'll even let you take the genin exam that is being held tomorrow if you wish. May I ask however, what is your name?"

Naruto replied "Uzumaki Naruto and I'm sure you know who my father is."

Sarutobi was quite surprised; Uzumaki Naruto was kidnapped when he was merely a few months old.

Before Sarutobi could reply Naruto explained to him what happened with his uncle what happened back then.

Sarutobi nodded and replied "I understand it is good to have you back Naruto; I completely understand the circumstances of your situation."

With that they both continued to talk, Sarutobi told Naruto to go to the Ninja Academy tomorrow and he would have his people work out everything. Sarutobi also set Naruto up in the house his father used to own, Sarutobi then gave Naruto access to Yondaime's accounts. Naruto also had access to the Uzumaki accounts so he transferred all the money into one account in which he could use to build an Uzumaki clan house later down the road.

After all the legal paper work was done, Naruto bid farewell to Sarutobi and went to get some rest and clean himself up for his big test tomorrow. On his way out he retrieved his items and gear.

* * *

Naruto woke up at dawn like he was trained to and began to prepare for the test, Naruto ran through everything he knew about ninjutsu, he didn't know a lot but he definitely knew the basics. He then warmed up his taijutsu and practiced throwing kunai and shurikan's.

After eating a rather dull breakfast that he cooked himself, he dressed himself in his usual clothing and began to walk towards the Ninja Academy.

During his walk he noticed the many great things about his new home, there were many people everywhere and he enjoyed watching them all interact. On his way there however, he passed by a flower shop, unluckily for him he bumped into a girl his age and he fell down.

He looked up and stared into the girls eyes, she blushed a little when she stared into his before completely going off on him about how he should watch where he was going and how late she was going to be.

Before Naruto knew what was going on the girl ran off and he sat there dumb founded. He picked himself up and headed towards the academy.

Naruto arrived late to the academy and it took quite a long time for him to get him checked in and everything, so when he was introduced to the class, all of them had already taken the genin test.

Naruto introduced himself by saying his name and what hobbies he liked to do. Murmurs arose in the classroom when they found out they had a new classman on the day of graduation. Naruto shrugged and sat down at the seat he was pointed to by the teacher.

The blonde sat there while he heard the teacher read off everyone who had passed the genin exam, he also heard him announce that some guy named Uchiha Sasuke was the #1 rookie this year because he got the best grade on the exam.

Before everything was over however, the Hokage entered and whispered something to the teacher. The teacher frowned at him, but followed orders, so he asked for Naruto to come down to the front and that they'll just give him the exam now.

While walking down towards the floor he heard most of the students snicker and laugh at how the new student was going to fail. Naruto continued to walk down the steps however with his head held high, that was when he noticed that the girl he had bumped into earlier was in his class, he looked over to her and quirked an eyebrow. She was surprised and stumbled to look away; he sighed and just continued to walk down to the front.

Naruto stood there as the teachers explained the first test to him, he was to be given 10 tries to hit a circular target in the center, and the target was located on a far wall. He was also told to put as much power as he could and to try his hardest.

The blonde took out a kunai and flicked it at the target, what happened next was quite different from what everyone except for the Hokage was expecting. The kunai hit the target straight in the center, but it didn't stop, the kunai smashed through the wall and embedded itself into a tree outside. The kunai still held the round center of the target as it was sticking out of the tree; a crashed broke them out of their trance as what remained of the target inside the room fell down and broke in two.

The teacher shakily said pass and explained the next test, the next test was for Naruto to try and hit the sensei that was to oversee the test using only taijutsu. He would be graded on form, grace, and speed. Naruto astounded everyone again when he simply kicked his "opponent" with one try with perfect grace, form, and amazing speed. His opponent however was knocked out and had to be revived by medics.

Naruto's final test would be for him to perform bunshin-no jutsu, they told him that 3 is the minimum and everything above that would measure his ability. Naruto saw through the whole thing easily, people who wanted to show off would make as many clones as possible even though 3 was the minimum, this would do no good in missions because it would endanger lives if people decided to show off. Naruto simply made 3 clones and stood there awaiting what to do next.

The teacher nodded at the three bunshins and told Naruto that he was going to tally up his score and tell him what rank he got when he passed. Naruto was happy at that point, he had passed the test easily, and he just hoped he got a good grade because he felt quite embarrassed because everyone kept looking at him with strange looks.

The teacher told him that he got a perfect score, this made Uchiha Sasuke quite angry when he found out he had been outscored quite easily by the new comer, Naruto beamed as the teacher continued to call out his rank.

The teacher announced loudly "Uzumaki Naruto, outscored Uchiha Sasuke by 5 points, because of that Uzumaki Naruto is now the new #1 Rookie."

Naruto smiled brightly, but was saddened when many girls in the audience started yelling curses at him and telling him that Sasuke-kun was so much better then he was. Naruto frowned at that before the Hokage stopped everything, the Hokage handed Naruto his forehead protector and told him that he was quite impressed.

Naruto graciously accepted the forehead protector and proceeded to tie it around his forehead. He went back to his seat to learn that he would have to come back tomorrow to find out who his 2 other teammates were. Naruto has never worked in a team, but he merely shrugged and went home.

That night he kept thinking about that loud blonde girl and why she had been so rude at him, he finally fell asleep and dreamed of what was to happen tomorrow.

* * *

A/N: Wow finally done with the 1st chapter, review and tell me what you guys think of it.

I really love this one for some reason.

Peace.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto or Bleach. 

A/N: It seems this fic isn't as popular with the public as my last one.

Also if you're wondering about Renji, continue to do so :P I got something really special planned out :P

Anyway here's chapter 2, if anyone thinks that I'm going to fast don't worry because I'll start to slow down real soon.

Ps. I'm on fire baby :P

* * *

Chapter 2

Naruto was walking to class this morning, barely holding the excitement in because today was the day that each genin gets separated into a 3 man team. Naruto was hoping to befriend his team mates and finally have another person to talk to.

As he was walked along, he spotted a boy from his class laying on a hill side staring up into the sky. The boy was dressed in dull brown pants with a shirt; over his shirt he wore fishnet and a jacket. The boy also had his forehead protector over his left arm; he tied his hair in a pony tail and had a sleepy expression on his face.

Naruto looked at the boy curiously before clearing his thoughts, and kept on walking towards the Ninja Academy. Naruto had come extra early today and because of that there was only one other person there besides him.

As Naruto ascended the steps to take his seat in the back of the class he looked over to the other boy and smiled at him. The other boy was the one he beat to gain the #1 Rookie position, Naruto felt bad that he had done so, so he attempted to try and make amends with the boy. The boy simply sneered at him and turned his head, Naruto let out a sigh and walked pass the boy to his seat in the back.

Slowly the classroom began to fill and each student began to talk excitedly, each one wondering who they were going to be teamed up with. Naruto noticed the boy from earlier take the seat in front of him and put his head down on his arms to rest. He was about to try to converse with the boy when the teacher walked in and told everyone to settle down so they can explain everything.

From what Naruto could understand, each student will be put into a 3 man team and that each team will be taught by a jounin who would lead the team in missions and training. Naruto also paid attention, when no one else did, when the teacher told the class to remember about the importance of team work.

Having gotten everything out of the way, the teacher then proceeded to name off the team number and the members of each team. Naruto didn't really pay attention, and noticed that the blonde girl from yesterday was sitting near the front; she was sitting close to the guy that had sneered at him. Naruto then saw the girl stand up, when the teacher called her name, he then noticed the boy in front of him stood up also. He then heard his name so he stood up as well, he sighed when his mind finally registered everything. He was being teamed up with the rude blonde girl and the incredibly lazy guy in front of him.

Sitting down he waited for the teacher to finish so he could find out who his new sensei was going to be. Naruto at this moment then noticed that the previous number 1 rookie was teamed up with a rather fat boy and a girl with pink hair. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard the shout of a boy holding a dog, he then noticed a rather creepy looking guy with sun glasses stand up, and finally a girl who dressed herself in an overcoat and had eyes that had no pupil.

Naruto heard his teacher giving the class orders to stay in the classroom until their sensei would come and pick them up. Naruto watched as each team slowly left with their teacher, the team with the dog boy left with a female sensei who dressed in a strange fashion. He saw his team mates stand up when a tall man with a beard called out "Team 8." Shrugging he followed the man as his team was lead to a restaurant.

The man introduced himself as "Sarutobi Asuma," he asked for everyone to introduce them selves and to tell him their likes, dislikes, and dreams. He pointed to the blonde haired girl and asked her to go first; Naruto listened intently as the girl spoke.

The girl said "My name is Yamanaka Ino, I like flowers, I dislike idiots, and my dream is to someday become a strong kunoichi."

Asuma grinned and nodded to the lazy member of his team.

The boy said "My name is Nara Shikamaru…. I like cloud watching….. I dislike to waste energy….. I dream to be an average shinobi, marry an average wife, and die happily as my children take care of me."

Three big sweat drops formed as Shikamaru finished his introduction.

Clearing his head Asuma pointed to the last member of the team and Naruto knew it was finally his turn.

Naruto cleared his throat and said "I am Uzumaki Naruto, I like to meet interesting people, and I dislike certain individuals….. My dream is to some day fulfill my promise to my Grandfather."

Asuma grinned and nodded, Naruto smiled brightly at each member of his team. They ate their food and Asuma told them about the real test to become genin that is set to happen tomorrow. Asuma then left and all was left was the three genins as they began to finish their early lunch.

Naruto built up the courage and asked his team mates if they wanted to train with him today, as a team. Ino shot him down saying that she had to help her mom at her shop, Shikamaru said something along the lines of "It's too troublesome," and they both left.

* * *

Naruto sighed as he knew what he had to do next, today was the day that he would visit the graves of his parents... Naruto had asked the Hokage right before he left on the day he arrived so Naruto would know where his parents were buried. He went home and cleaned himself up, put on new clothes and decided to go buy some flowers to place on the graves of his parents.

For Naruto, this was a huge step, living most of his life under the watchful eye of his Grandfather. Naruto could never really talk about his parents in front of the old man, when his father left the clan he greatly hurt his family.

He had always dreamt what his parents were like, he had a chance to ask the Hokage, but he did not want to shatter his perfect image of them. With that Naruto was content with simply visiting them at their graves.

Remembering that there was a flower shop on the route to his Ninja Academy, Naruto headed there. Unbeknownst to him, a certain blonde kunoichi was currently helping her mother at that very same shop.

Walking into the shop, Naruto was astounded by the awesome displays of flowers that were on every shelf. They had everything from daisies to roses; he was admiring some flowers when a familiar voice caught his attention.

Ino had just walked out of the back room when she noticed, a blonde boy her age was currently browsing around. Ino sighed, he was probably buying some flowers to give to his girlfriend. Ino was resented the fact that the one boy she had set her eye on, was also the one boy who had the biggest fan-club in Konoha. Putting her love problems aside she was about to greet the boy when she noticed something familiar about him.

It was the idiot who ran into her yesterday, she always felt weird when she was around him. Mainly because he always kept staring at her and it made her feel uncomfortable, knowing herself Ino was probably going to warm up to him and start "punishing" him soon with her "love" slaps. Ino sighed why did she have to have such typical male team mates?

Crossing her arms in front of her Ino called out "What do you want Naruto, I told you I can't train with you or Shikamaru today."

Naruto turned his head around and was surprised, he had not counted on meeting one of his team mates here.

Naruto replied "Your family owns this shop?"

Ino rolled her eyes and pointed to a sign hanging outside, it read "Yamanaka Flower Shop."

Naruto was dumbfounded, how in the hell did he miss that?

Reaching for the back of his head out of instinct, for some odd reason, he replied "Ahhhh, gomen Ino-Chan. I guess I didn't see it."

Ino shook her head and replied "What do you want? I have much work to do."

Naruto, remembering what he came here for, told her that he needed two bundles of the prettiest flowers she had. He looked down and the smile that was on his face was replaced by a look of sadness.

Ino noticed this, but did not want to intrude in his affairs. She went to the back and pulled out two beautiful bouquets of flowers. She motioned for him to come to the counter.

While he was paying for all this Ino took a deep long look at his face, she blushed, but mustering up enough courage she asked him a question.

Ino asked "Who are these for Naruto?"

Naruto looked at her and simply said "For my parents..."

Not pressing the subject further she handed him the two bouquets and accepted his money.

Naruto left the shop and as soon as she did Ino decided to do something a little crazy... She took off her apron and yelled to her mother that she was going to take a short break.

She left the shop and shadowed Naruto, Ino wasn't THAT interested about the boy, however she was a gossiper and she hated being the last one to know anything.

She followed him and it lead her into a brightly lit cavern in the Hokage mountains, she watched him slowly approach a statue of the 4th Hokage and he placed one bouquet of flowers on top of Yondaime's grave. She then saw him place another bouquet down onto the one that was right next to it.

She frowned, it was impossible, Naruto's last name was Uzumaki and the 4th's was Kazama. Naruto couldn't be his long lost son.

Naruto then proceeded to kneel down in front of their graves and he said some words before she saw him sob a little, this scene tore at her heart strings. Naruto after doing that stood up and dusted himself off, he went forward and placed a hand on each of his parent's grave markers. He spoke some words and while watching him speak you could see a fierce determination build in him. She watched as he finally decided to leave after an hour or two.

Approaching the grave markers after Naruto left, she decided she wanted to peak at the names on the grave markers and what she saw shocked her to the very core.

Written in bold letters across each head stone were the names: Uzumaki Kazama Arashi and Uzumaki Kazama Yachiru. The Yondaime and his faithful wife, the heroes that saved Konoha from certain doom.

Yondaime had changed his name 2 years after he had first arrived, this was back when he was still 12 years old so no one really remembers it.

Ino fell to the floor, only two things ran through her mind they were: "This secret, there is no point in telling it, no one would believe me." The next one was "Uzumaki Naruto, I would have never thought..."

After having her world rocked, Ino headed home.

* * *

Naruto awoke to a bright and cheery morning, putting the painful memories aside from yesterday, Naruto instead concentrated on his big test today. He showered and put on his usual kimono, hakama, and white undershirt. Strapping his sword to his back and tying his forehead protector to his forehead, Naruto headed out to have an early morning warm up. After running through all his usual routines he then ate some breakfast and headed for Team 8's training field.

When he arrived he saw a lazy Shikamaru and an Ino that gave him a really strange look. Before he could ask her, their sensei arrived and told them to follow him.

They walked deep into the training field until they reached a clearing that also had a small stream run half way through it. He then told them that only 1 member of this team would be allowed to pass and that the rest would be returned to the Academy.

Asuma then pointed to the river and said "The name of the game is called Field Control. Whoever is able to get me onto the other side of the stream passes the test and becomes a genin."

Asuma then told them that they had 2 hours to do so, before he could even finish the word start, the three genins were gone.

Naruto hid in a tree as he watched his sensei stand in the middle of a big field that led to the stream. Naruto had never gotten the chance to test himself on a Jounin so he decided that right now would be the perfect opportunity. Naruto dug his heels into the branch of his tree and made a gigantic leap into the sky. Aiming for the very top of Asuma, Naruto drew his sword as he did a wide downward slash.

When the sword connected with the ground it left a gigantic hole that had been caused by chakra being released from the sword. Frowning Naruto continued his assault on Asuma, each strike being dodged and one connecting with a pair of Knuckle Busters that Asuma had just drawn. Seeing the fast reaction and his sensei finally getting serious, Naruto simply backed off and went back to hiding to refine a new strategy.

A thought kept chewing at his head though, "Why would the Academy waste their time making the teams even, to try and break it up now?"

Naruto continued to contemplate this when it struck him, his sensei had reminded everyone about the importance of team work before even the teams were picked. So it finally hit him like a ton of bricks and he set off to find the rest of his team mates.

Naruto found Ino first and told her everything, she had slapped her forehead in realization and decided to help him. Naruto and Ino then found Shikamaru hiding in a bush staring at trees, when the two told him about the test, Shikamaru merely scoffed and said "Took you guys long enough."

Both team members' jaws dropped as Shikamaru told them that he knew right away, he also told them that he would have told them, but he knew they would find out eventually so he saved his energy.

After finally getting together, Naruto asked the rest of the group if they had any strategies for teaming up against their sensei. Ino quickly asked Shikamaru come up with a brilliant plan and the trio set out to work.

* * *

Asuma expected each of them to slowly try to attack him one-on-one, and he was going to have to fight one at a time. However he did not expect Uzumaki Naruto to charge at him again, this time Naruto slashed at Asuma's feet trying to get him to move closer to the forest. With each step Naruto knew that Asuma was going to fall into their trap.

Once he was in range Shikamaru popped out of the bushes and performed "Kagemane No Jutsu." The jutsu slowly raced towards Asuma making him run towards the river banks, he stopped when he noticed that the shadow finally ran out of shadows to bend and manipulate. That was when Naruto took his sword and threw it right in front of the struggling shadow. Shikamaru quickly absorbed the shadow created by the sword and continued to chase after Asuma.

Asuma seeing this jumped out of its range again by landing on the stream; that was when he saw his other student jump out of the bushes from his right and began to form the hand seals for her Mind switching jutsu. It was slow and Asuma ran towards his left to escape, seeing this Naruto knew they would fail if he didn't do anything.

Quickly molding some chakra into his feet he stunned everyone when he vanished from his current position to appear in front of Asuma to stop him from escaping. Just when Ino was about to finish, the alarm rang and Asuma told all of them to stop.

Lowering their heads in shame the three genin gathered around their sensei, Naruto quickly retrieved his sword first. Asuma lectured them about team work, they were tuning him out awaiting the words they didn't want to hear. Asuma put on a huge grin and said "You all pass."

He explained to them that he only wished for them to want work together, they did not have to have perfect team work. He merely wanted them to trust each other and when they finally banded together to work for a common goal he decided to pass of them.

Asuma then told them to meet him at their same spot again tomorrow to begin doing missions, he congratulated all of them again and told them to continue to work hard. He then poofed away, seeing this, Ino told her team mates that she had to work for her mother again today. So she left the two boys to do whatever they wished.

Naruto, starving for a good conversation asked if he could join Shikamaru in whatever he planned to do. Shikamaru shrugged and said sure, the two boys headed towards Shikamaru's house where he picked up his shogi board and then they headed off towards his favorite cloud watching spot.

The boys both laid there in silence watching the clouds drift by, Naruto doesn't like silence very much so he started a conversation with Shikamaru. The two boys talked for awhile before Naruto asked Shikamaru a question that has been plaguing his mind for a long time.

Naruto asked "Why are you so lazy Shikamaru? Why don't you have any motivation to become stronger?"

Shikamaru replied "There shall always be another person in the world that is stronger then me, why should I waste my time if I cannot be the best?"

The blonde boy replied to that with "It's not about being the best is it? To me it's about becoming powerful and to fulfill my promise to my grandfather."

Shikamaru replied "What is the promise to your Grandfather anyway? I heard you talk about it at the introductions, but you never elaborated on it."

Naruto was surprised, he hadn't expected Shikamaru to actually remember. Naruto replied "When did you start to pay attention? Didn't you get the worst grades in class or something?"

Shikamaru replied "I listen to everything even though you think I'm asleep, I just wish to be left alone most of the time. I also found the test to troublesome so I did not bother to really try much on them. And weren't you supposed to tell me your promise to your Grandfather now?"

Naruto smiled and said "I promised my Grandfather on his death bed, that someday I would rebuild my clan and bring it back to its former glory."

Shikamaru snorted "Well it's too troublesome if you ask me..." But behind those words Shikamaru admired the boy, maybe it wouldn't be too troublesome if he began to try more?

Shikamaru shrugged and invited Naruto to play shogi with him, Naruto used to play it a lot when he was younger so he loved the game because it reminded him of his Grandfather.

The two played for hours and with a new found respect, along with realization of how smart Shikamaru was. Naruto headed home after saying good bye, he was starting too really like his team.

Shikamaru smiled as he walked home, he hasn't been able to find a challenging opponent in shogi for a while. He was starting to like this grandfather loving kid.

* * *

It had been three days since Team 8 began doing missions, it was also 3 of the most boring days Naruto has ever experienced. All the missions they were doing had to deal with useless chores like: find lost cats, walking dogs, and baby sitting.

It was on the fourth day that when Team 8 reported back to the Hokage that Naruto decided to finally speak up.

Naruto asked "Hokage-sama can't you give us a harder mission? We've been doing D rank missions for three days straight already. I understand we have to start low, but don't you think we're ready for a more challenging mission?

Ino also spoke up and agreed with Naruto, Shikamaru shrugged and simply said "Sure."

The Hokage looked at Naruto before sighing and asking Asuma "Do you think they are ready for a C ranked mission Asuma?"

The Jounin grinned and said "I believe we are even ready for a B ranked one Hokage-Sama."

Naruto looked up at his sensei and smiled, maybe things will finally become more interesting.

The Hokage had an amused look on his face and said "Alright, alright, here's a C ranked mission. You are to escort a bridge builder to the Wave Country, make sure he gets there safely. Here is the information Asuma."

Asuma stepped forward and took the information, the Hokage then told their client to step out.

An old man stepped out of a room and stared at his newly hired ninja's.

He scoffed and said "These are the runts who will be escorting me?"

Ino ground her teeth at him and was about to charge him when Naruto stopped her and said "Do not worry, we may be young, but we are more then enough to handle common thugs and criminals that are located in C ranked missions."

The old man said "Whatever." And then Asuma stepped in.

He ordered his subordinates to go pack their things and meet him at the East gate in 30 minutes. He also then asked the man, named Tazuna, to follow him towards that way.

Naruto raced home and packed a backpack with two extra change of clothes, extra kunai's and shurikan's, along with a coat if things get to cold. Wearing the backpack on his back Naruto opted to have his sword strapped on his left hip for easy reach. He wore his normal black kimono, black hakama, and white undershirt. He also decided to wear geta sandals (Wooden ones worn with Kimono's and Hakama's) instead of the usual ninja sandals.

Naruto was the last one to arrive at the gate, and when he got there Asuma told everyone about what a usual C ranked escort mission entailed. All they needed to do was keep a watchful eye on their client.

They continued along their journey and soon was on the long road to Wave Country. Ino was curious about the situation on Wave Country so she, Asuma, and Tazuna maintained a normal conversation.

Naruto listened in on the conversation, but always kept on alert. He was getting these strange feelings and it irked him. Half way towards Wave, Naruto spotting a suspicious puddle, he readied himself. As soon as they passed the puddle two men ambushed them, wrapping a metal jagged chain around their sensei, they ripped him apart by pulling on each side of the chain.

Naruto saw Asuma do Kawarimi at the last minute so he did not worry about his sensei, instead he concentrated on the enemy instead. Especially since they targeted him next, the two men proceeded to try and wrap the chain around Naruto, but since Naruto had a sword he simply drew it and cut the chain in half.

One of the enemies dropped the chain and ran towards a scared looking Ino, the other didn't drop his chain and instead whipped it around Naruto's sword. Naruto seeing what his enemy was going to do next, Naruto timed it so he would throw the sword javelin style at the exact same time his enemy pulled.

The sword flew towards the man at an incredible speed, the man was lucky and dodged it. The sword, instead of skewering the man hit the contraption on his left hand and pinned it against the tree. Naruto seeing his chance ran forward and kicked the guy in the head, knocking him out cold. The other man who went after Ino was stopped by Shikamaru by use of Kagemane jutsu, Naruto also knocked out that guy when Shikamaru released his jutsu.

Asuma appeared soon after praising them on their good work, however he was mad that Tazuna had lied to his village about this being a C ranked mission. Whatever mission that involved other Nin's were considered B rank and above.

After getting everything straightened out, and getting Tazuna to up the price of the mission, they were on their way again. They had tied up the two guys and left them there to have ANBU capture them.

Using a boat they passed under a well made bridge that would soon pull Wave Country out of its economic troubles. They were soon back on land heading towards Tazuna's House.

* * *

Naruto felt like he was being watched... He felt as if there was another huge chakra in the area waiting to consume him...

Naruto suddenly heard Asuma yell "DUCK!" So he dived towards the ground with the rest of his team as a gigantic sword swung pass him. Looking up at the sword after it had been embedded into the tree, he saw a strange looking man standing on it. Hearing his sensei's order to not engage this target Naruto and his team mates formed a protective barrier around their charge.

The man and Asuma exchanged some words before the man performed a jutsu that created a lot of mist around the area. The man easily penetrated their barrier and was about to kill Tazuna when Asuma stepped in with his Knuckle Busters.

The two engaged in combat, but in the end the man gained the upper hand and tricked Naruto's sensei. The man had trapped his sensei in a water prison, due to the fact that the water prison had to be held using chakra, the man had to stand there keeping it active. He however created many water clones to attack Naruto and his team.

Asuma yelled "RUN! Ino, Shikamaru, Naruto! Run and get Tazuna to safety, do not worry about me!"

Naruto slowly looked at his team mates before telling them, "Shikamaru, please back me up while I try and free Asuma-sensei. Ino stay here and protect Tazuna, if me and Shikamaru fail, be sure to take Tazuna to safety."

Both genins nodded, Naruto slowly drew his Katana. Naruto's sword has a black sheathe, the handle was decorated in black and gold, and the hand guard was round. There are gold carvings on the hand guard and handle of the Katana.

Naruto slowly got into his favorite stance, he knew there was no way he could last a long time with so many water clones. Deciding to lower their numbers quick Naruto did molded chakra to his feet, using the flash step 3 times he quickly eliminated most of the clones, he was very tired. The Flash step drains chakra quickly and was extremely strenuous to the body.

There were only 5 clones left and they were protecting the man's real body, trusting in his team mate Naruto charged them. Instead of attacking them he slid under them and went for a leaping slash at the real body, looking back he could see that the clones were being stopped by Shikamaru's Kagemane.

The man simply caught Naruto by the neck and started to squeeze, Naruto dropped his sword to the ground, thinking quickly Naruto wrapped his legs around the man's arm. Planting his right foot on the man's face and his left foot on the man's stomach, Naruto was able to break the hold the man had on his neck.

Instead of letting go of the arm however, he opted for a more "creative" choice. Naruto twisted the hand and planted his right leg over the man's face and the other one across the man's chest Naruto pulled on the wrist as he locked in an arm bar.

Naruto was pulling the arm with all of his strength to try and break it. The man fought back greatly, but he was losing. He had to choose between breaking the prison and having his arm broken, he gladly chose to release the prison.

The man released the prison and turned to use his right arm to do a right elbow into the face of Naruto. Naruto was dazed as the elbow connected with his nose, blood oozed out of the nose and Naruto once against found himself gripped by the neck.

Asuma quickly performed seals and used one of his own personal jutsu. He blew a poisonous gas cloud into the face of the missing Nin, the man struggled for air and Naruto struggled to get free.

The man fed up with the kid threw Naruto into the middle of the lake. Having gone through some chakra control techniques from his Grandfather Naruto landed on his feet in the middle of the lake.

He then watched his sensei face off against the missing Nin again. This time Asuma fought hard and seriously, he molded chakra to his palm and slammed it down on the water. It created a giant wave that crashed into the missing Nin, it carried him to land and slammed him against a tree.

Three needles flew through the air as it embedded itself into the neck of the missing Nin. The owner of the needles explained that he was hunter-nin and was chasing this criminal, the man took the missing-nin's body and disappeared.

Asuma realized he was tricked, but couldn't do anything, because they had escaped.

Naruto walked back to land and collapsed with exhaustion, Asuma thanked him and then carried his body to Tazuna's house.

Tonight they would be able to sleep well, in a week however, fate puts Team 8 against some old enemies.

* * *

A/N: Wow I was finally able to finish chapter 2, it was a beast.

I hope you had as much fun as I did reading this as I had writing this.

Peace.

PS: Next time Naruto makes his own jutsu.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Bleach. 

A/N: Yo, I woke up this morning and found out that I am a WAS abuser. It's going to be hard to stop, but I'll try my best.

I might discontinue the romance part of my fic, I might not, tell me what you think of how it's going on.

A person asked me in a review about what Naruto would do if Sasuke would leave to join Orochimaru, because it wouldn't be as dramatic. Naruto would do what Naruto does best, frown and shake his head, and then beat the living crap out of Sasuke. :D

Here we go again folks; I like to call this chapter "The Grand Scheme of things."

Current beta readers who like to kick me in my ass to motivate me:  
Moonraker one

So I present to you chapter 3

* * *

Chapter 3

Naruto woke up and immediately shot up when he finally realized where he was. Sighing he followed the rusty sewer way to a gigantic room. The room was quite clean compared to the pipes that lead to it, the only thing that made Naruto cringe was the horrid stench of the fox. Knowing that he was summoned here by the fox, Naruto approached the cage.

The cage is currently the home of a certain 9 tailed furry fox that Naruto is quite afraid of; knowing full well that the fox wanted to speak with him, Naruto walked up to the cage. Seeing a big figure in the darkness of the cage, Naruto awaited patiently for the fox to show himself.

Kyuubi strode to the front, seeing the blonde boy the fox snorted before getting to the point. Naruto was quite nervous seeing the fox, the last time he had met the fox he had his grandfather to hide behind, this time he would have to face the gigantic fox alone. Letting out a growl to clear his throat the Kyuubi said "It seems human, that your clansmen want to speak with you."

Naruto was quite skeptical, his grandfather always made the point that when he died Naruto would be the last Uzumaki. Naruto held out hope, that maybe there could be another Uzumaki out there. Replying cautiously Naruto said "I thought I was the last one alive?"

The fox replied, "Who said they were living"  
Naruto's attention shifted to the eyes of the fox, being drawn in, Naruto looked deep into the fox's eyes. Naruto's world darkened and he soon found himself in a dark room with two glowing orbs that were previously the eyes of the Kitsune, the orbs stayed afloat before splitting into 8 different forms. As the forms touched the ground a great glow appeared and Naruto shielded his eyes.

Naruto opened his eyes as he saw 8 figures dressed in black kimonos with a black hakama, they wore a white undershirt underneath the kimono, and they all wore a white haori. Naruto noticed that all of them dressed in the exact same way his grandfather used to dress in, all 8 men sat behind a giant table that was draped in a white cloth. The 8 figures also sat in large chairs, the back of the chairs rose above all their heads and each held a number.

Scanning the faces of all the men, Naruto recognized a younger version of his Grandfather in the 8th seat. Naruto still felt quite confused standing in front of these men who scrutinized him, but was comforted seeing at least one familiar face among the council of men whom he was quite scared of.

He focused his attention on the man with the number 4 when that man stood up and addressed him.

The 4th said, "Uzumaki Naruto, current clan head of the Uzumaki Clan, we are pleased that you have decided to join us. Let us introduce ourselves; we are the Uzumaki Council, deceased clan heads that have obtained the Uzumaki's greatest technique."

Naruto was quite confused, but still muttered out, "How are you talking to me? Aren't you all dead?"

The 4th sat down when the 6th spoke, "We come before you today by the powers of the 9 tailed beasts, they have asked us to warn you about some "interesting" things. Our spirits can be called upon through the powers of a tailed beast."

"The tailed beasts are not regular demons; they are here to protect this world. The tailed beasts are on our side, not the enemies."

The 3rd then added, "We are here to give you some information on the man who has killed your clan. We think we have found out his true intentions, why he killed off everyone except for you."

The 3rd continued and said, "Naruto, do you know what our bloodline power is? I am sure you have heard from your grandfather that all Uzumaki's inherit it."

Naruto nodded and said, "I have heard that I have a bloodline, but nothing has been said past that point."

The 4th added in, "Naruto, have you ever wondered why communicating to the Kyuubi was so easy and casual for you? Every member of the Uzumaki Clan is born with this ability; we received this ability over 5,000 years ago."

"5,000 years ago, when the first Uzumaki's were around a terrible war started. A powerful Demonic Lord found a way to enter into our world; he brought with him an evil army. The Humans banded together with the tailed beasts and we were able to send him back to whence he came. Due to our ancestor's great courage in battle the tailed beasts blessed our family with a gift, every Uzumaki from then onward would be able to talk to demons. The tailed beasts gave us this gift so we can easily patrol the Western borders, we were given the task of making sure nothing like that ever happened again."

"As the years grew our powers evolved and we can now read, and even write in demonic languages. Although they are gone, they left their demonic books with them and a lot of these books contain dark magic. As a safety precaution, all demonic books found by us were destroyed; however we believe that this man has found a rather powerful spell. It is rumored that they even left a way to open a portal to the demon world…"

The 1st spoke up, "We believe he wants to take possession of your body to, eventually, reopen the portal to the demon world. This man has a greed for power, and through his greed he'll even endanger the world for it. If he were to take your body, he'll have the powers of Kyuubi; with this power he'll challenge the Demonic Lord. It is impossible, for the Kyuubi has his limits. If this portal opens there shall only be doom for mankind."

The 2nd then said, "That is why we have brought you here Naruto, as the last Uzumaki alive; we want you to continue our duty to the world as the guardians of the demon portals."

Naruto's grandfather, the 8th said "Naruto, I have trained you in the ways of the Uzumaki; you are quite capable of being strong. It is your lack of understanding of the Uzumaki that is holding you back, our clan believes in building our own strength. The reason why you are weak is because you think people will hand you power, but a true Uzumaki shall create his own. We may teach you the basics of our fighting style, but you must create everything else, we will not give it to you."

Naruto understood why his grandfather was saying this; he knew absolutely no ninjutsu except for the basics. He didn't even know how to work a genjutsu and his taijutsu was all taught by his family, and even then it was merely the basics. Naruto definitely needs to start training or his future will be quite painful.

Sajin continued, "It is only out of the extremity of the situation that we the council have decided to tell you this, the scroll I gave you is not the real Ultimate technique of the Uzumaki, and it is merely the 1st stage of it. When you get back home, read it and follow it's instructions, seeing as how you have time now we want you to take a hand in creating your own jutsu's. If you need help, ask the Kyuubi for tips. Do not break the Uzumaki way and ask him to teach you a technique."

The 4th then said, "We need you to become strong Naruto, dark times are coming ahead and I do not wish for 500 generations of Uzumaki's to all go to waste. After you have learned the technique in that scroll, we shall put you through a trial. If you fail then you shall die, but if you pass then you shall gain what 8 clan heads have out of 500."

Sajin then added, "Remember Naruto, if the time came and you had a choice between saving the world and keeping my promise. Remember that EVERY Uzumaki will support you breaking my promise, our duty is much more important then our existence."

Sajin then said, "That is all my grandson, be brave, even if these burdens are on you. I truly believe that you can accomplish all of them."

With that said the council dispersed leaving a stunned Naruto in front of the Kyuubi, Naruto tried to process EVERYTHING the council had just said. He felt quite dizzy as he tried to recall everything, Naruto thought that his grandfather's promise was quite difficult to achieve. Now that he even had more on his shoulders Naruto suddenly felt like his shoulders and legs might not be strong enough to hold all of these things.

Gripping his hands together he muttered under his breath "How can I live up to all the things that were put on me? How do I become so strong to defeat a man who has killed my entire clan without blinking an eye?"

Naruto sobbed as reality hit him, painfully in the face I might add. Feeling quite insecure about himself, did the typical thing a 12 year old would do in this situation. He cried and cried until he was waterlogged.

He heard the fox growl, Naruto looked up to fox as it said "Through hard work and fierce determination, that is the path you must follow to become strong. Sitting here crying about it will not make it go away pathetic human."

Feeling quite ashamed of himself, Naruto wiped away his tears and straightened himself out. Naruto felt better after his little bawling session, he felt determination rise inside himself.

Looking straight into the eyes of the fox Naruto said "You are right fur ball, I have work to do."

The fox growled and said "Wake up."

* * *

Naruto slowly opened his eyes; he was in a futon in a room he has never seen before. He blinked before his memories came back to greet him, he had freed his sensei from that strange Nin, but he had used too much of his chakra.

He heard a voice grumble and a "troublesome" before looking over to where his team mates sat. They were playing shogi and from the look of things his female team mate was losing.

He politely coughed to get their attention, his female team mate just noticing that he regained consciousness told the other boy to go fetch their sensei.

Ino crawled over to Naruto and said "So you're finally awake? Gees you were out all of yesterday and today! You really shouldn't make your beautiful and smart team mate worry Naruto."

Naruto chuckled and said, "I have no worries then, there is no such person with those two attributes on my team."

Ino slapped him on the back of the head before smiling, she then said "Thanks Naruto, if you weren't there, I think things would have have turned out pretty ugly."

Naruto rubbed his head and said "Someone's is going to have to make up for Shikamaru's laziness."

Ino gave a small laugh; she then frowned and said "I feel so weak… In the end I wasn't able to do anything at all, the only thing I did was sit back while you two freed sensei."

Naruto replied "I think you are too unfocused… It seems like being a ninja isn't your top priority right now, I suggest you reorganize your priorities. If you truly want to become a strong kunoichi, then you need to work hard."

Before Naruto could even finish he found himself lying on the floor seeing stars, Naruto made the mistake of telling the ugly truth to the spiteful blonde angel named Yamanka Ino.

Feeling himself being grabbed by the collar as the blonde girl brought her face to his, he cringed as her voice rang in his ears "I didn't ask for an opinion on WHY I am weak! I surely HOPE you have learned your lesson, dear beloved team mate, I do wish I don't have to punish you again."

A terrified Naruto feigned a smile, nodding his head quickly, Naruto tried to calm the demon that was once his pretty team mate down. Before anything else happened they both heard Asuma's voice, he said "I agree with Naruto, and can you please drop the poor boy?"

Ino flashed a glare at her sensei before backing away from Naruto. Asuma entered the room and checked on Naruto, since all his injuries had healed, Asuma filled Naruto in on what he missed the past few days.

He had been out since they arrived here; while he was out the other two were busy trying to catch up to him by doing tree climbing exercises. Since Shikamaru was a genius and Ino was a natural, they both easily mastered the basic genin exercise and were now working on water walking.

Naruto requested to have some time alone to do some training; Asuma allowed it and told him that he could do some separate training if he felt he needed to. With everything said and done, Asuma left before telling him to come eat dinner in a few minutes.

After dinner, Naruto wanted to get some fresh air so he sat on the roof admiring the stars. That was when his team mate approached him.

Ino sat next to him and said "Gomen Naruto, I don't want to disturb you, but I have something to tell you."

Naruto looked over to her and nodded, telling her that he was listening, she then began to confess something.

Ino said "Do you remember when you came into my family's shop to buy some flowers? I was quite curious when you told me those were for your parents and when you left I followed you… I really am sorry, and I promise to never do anything like that to you again. I know it must have been pretty personal…"

Naruto thought about this for a moment before saying "As long as you are sorry and promise to never do things like that again, then I forgive you. Although I'm glad at least another person knows."

Ino smiled, she was glad that her team mate forgave her, and she felt horrible knowing that she invaded his privacy.

They both say there awhile talking quietly about nothing important before Ino decided to go to sleep, she scolded him for keeping her up this late before she left.

Ino then had a thought that she felt was quite strange for a person that was a member of the Sasuke fan club; she kept thinking "Why couldn't Sasuke be more like Naruto?"

A/N: In related news hell froze over today

* * *

Naruto awoke bright and early the next morning; he ate breakfast and quickly went off into the woods to train. Finding a nice open clearing, he then proceeded to try and create his own technique.

3 hours later.

Naruto was completely stumped, all attempts of making a "super cool awesome technique" failed miserably. So he did the only thing he could, he sat down and began to think, he remembered his Grandfather telling him about asking Kyuubi for tips.

He never really knew how to contact the Kyuubi, so while he pondered this he heard a familiar voice in his head.

The fox said "What do you want; I was having such a nice nap."

Naruto spoke out loud "How are you in my head? And why didn't you do this before?"

The fox replied "Quiet down brat, you wouldn't want people to think you were crazy now would you? Just say what you want in your mind and I'll be able to hear it. Anyways I am the Great Kyuubi; this is mere child's play to me. Also because you didn't ask me to."

Naruto frowned and spoke in his mind "Whatever, I need your help with a jutsu fox. I have no idea what I'm doing; my Grandfather said you could give me tips."

The fox said "Alright kid, what kind of jutsu are we talking about? Fire, water, wind, earth, or lightning?"

Naruto replied "I don't know… I'm just looking for a jutsu to compliment my fighting style, I think I need a jutsu that I can shoot and cause a lot of destruction to confuse my enemies."

The fox said "Elemental jutsu's can do that, but all of those are pretty high level that you probably can't do yet. So I suggest you do something with manipulating raw chakra, since you have a lot, to a physical form. Try molding chakra into various tenketsu's on your hand and experiment."

Naruto then proceeded to mold chakra into his hand; he decided to mold it into his fingertips. He then released, the chakra came out of the tenketsu points, but the chakra shot out like a geyser. He was trying to make a move that he could shoot out like a bullet.

The fox said "As you can see molding chakra into your hands and releasing it only does that, try making the chakra into a shape."

Naruto molded chakra into his index finger; he decided to manipulate the chakra into a circle shape. When he released the chakra it shot out of his hand, but instead of going straight it shot out randomly hitting a tree.

The tree ended up having a hole in it, Naruto examined his handiwork, after the examining it. Naruto concluded that he needed to put more chakra in for power and he needed to improve his precision. The fox told Naruto to be creative before leaving Naruto alone.

Feeling quite curious, Naruto set out to try and find other ways he could add to his technique.

Later that night

Naruto came back to Tazuna's house later that night, he was tired, but he felt proud of himself. He was able to form the balls on each finger tip and his palm, although the chakra balls were still highly inaccurate and did very minimal damage, Naruto was satisfied. He was on his way to mastering it; he already had thought up a name for it, he was going to call it "Spread Shot." (If anyone could translate to Japanese then I shall be very grateful)

After he got back, Naruto cleaned himself up before coming out for dinner again. He noticed a small boy that he didn't meet yesterday, but he paid no mind. Naruto sat across from the boy, but his thoughts were on how to make his jutsu more accurate. The food was brought to the table by Tazuna's daughter, she was named Tsunami, Naruto and his team mates dug into the food.

Half-way through the dinner the boy slammed his hand onto the table, Naruto looked at the boy as he got up and leaned across the table into Naruto's face.

The boy then yelled "WHY ARE YOU EVEN DOING THIS, YOU'RE JUST GOING TO DIE!"

Naruto heard about what happened to Inari's dad through his team mates the day before; he felt pity for the boy. He however felt that Inari was putting his father's name to shame by crying all the time.

Sighing Naruto replied, "Look kid, you're dad was a hero and although he died. I'm sure you miss him greatly, but crying all the time about his death is disrespectful! If you were really his son then you would be brave and stand up to Gato and his men!"

Inari ran out of the room screaming and crying, Naruto felt sorry for the kid, but he wasn't going to baby him. Everybody has to grow up some day, excusing himself from the table he went to his room to get some rest for tomorrow. He heard the others talk about him as he closed his door, clearing his head Naruto changed into his pajamas before finally getting some sleep.

* * *

"Uzumaki…. UZUMAKI….. OI, NARUTO GET YOUR ASS UP ALREADY OR YOU'LL MISS BREAKFAST!"

Naruto jumped up from his futon as he heard his female team mate yelling at him, going over what she said again, Naruto suddenly had a great idea. If he made the chakra balls in his hands spin then maybe that will improve his aim and power.

Jumping out of bed he quickly dressed, he ran to Ino, in his excitement he enveloped her in a giant bear hug to thank her for giving him the idea. He left a flustered Ino, a annoyed Shikamaru, and a chuckling Asuma, as he ran out of the door into the forest.

3 Days Later

Naruto had opted to stay out in the forest for the past 3 days; he slept on the ground and occasionally came back for food. Although he had most of the jutsu down, he still needed to test it out in combat before adding it into his style.

Deciding to return to the comfort of a bed and cleaner clothes, Naruto returned back to Tazuna's house. Since Naruto was gone for so long, Asuma told Naruto to guard the house while he and Naruto's team mates went to the bridge to guard Tazuna there. Naruto had also learned that Ino and Shikamaru improved a lot of the past few days.

After everyone left, Naruto simply went to his room. He took out his Katana from his backpack, what Naruto was training was his ninjutsu, he didn't really need his sword so he left it at home. He strapped the Katana on his back; suddenly a woman's scream rang through the house. The enemy must have waited until his team left to strike.

Naruto leapt into action, he jumped out of the window and climbed to the roof. He then saw two men drag a very frightened Tsunami from the house, a very water logged Inari came out and yelled at them. Knowing that the boy was probably going to die Naruto jumped off the roof to land in front of the boy.

The two men smirked as they looked at him; they smacked Tsunami across the face and threw her to the ground. They then drew their swords; Naruto knew these guys were amateurs from their movement. He quickly jumped over both of them; he drew his sword and slashed across them across their chest. Blood seeped out of the wounds as they fell into the water.

Naruto then went over to a sobbing Inari, he grabbed the boy; he then dragged the boy over to his mother. He told Inari to take care of his mother, because he was going to go die now. Naruto then ran towards the bridge, he knew his team mates were going to need his help if they were also attacked.

As he leapt away from Inari and his mother he heard Inari yell something, Naruto ignored it and continued on to the bridge.

As Naruto got close to the bridge he decided to approach the bridge cautiously, when he got to a good spot to overlook the entire bridge he saw 5 figures engaged in combat. Ino was currently guarding Tazuna as Shikamaru was desperately holding off the person who tricked them when they first met. Asuma was also going toe to toe with the ninja who escaped them in a contest over who was better at using their weapon.

Seeing Shikamaru get his butt kicked worried Naruto, although Shikamaru was able to hold off the ninja, he was obviously losing. The lazy ninja fought a masked ninja in a battle of taijutsu, although Shikamaru wasn't very good at fighting hand to hand he tried his best. Shikamaru is a strategic genius; he is better off telling stronger people what to do in a fight then to actually fight.

Shikamaru used a kunai as he defended himself from an extremely fast masked ninja; he desperately tried to come up with a better strategy. Executing the strategy was rather difficult; the ninja left Shikamaru no room to breathe as he was bombarded with attack after attack.

The masked ninja decided to end the battle as he formed multiple mirrors around his opponent, using his advanced bloodline to his advantage, the masked ninja leapt from mirror to mirror bombarding his unlucky opponent with needles.

Naruto decided to leap in when the enemy ninja created multiple mirrors surrounding Shikamaru, getting closer to the action he decided to use his new technique. Creeping along the hand rails of the bridge he slowly molded chakra into his left hand. He signaled Shikamaru to duck, Naruto then formed the chakra into little orbs; he slowly started to spin them.

FLASH BACK

Naruto surveyed the damage he had dealt with his new technique; the tree had shattered in half after being hit by the technique. Naruto smiled as he knew that the spinning of the orbs greatly added precision and power to his technique.

This however added a lot of stress to Naruto's hands, if he wasn't careful then the balls themselves would rip the skin off of his hands.

END FLASH BACK

Charging up his shot, Naruto fired it when he saw Shikamaru dive towards the ground. Six chakra orbs smashed through the mirrors, all of them shattered and the ninja who was in them fell to the ground in a daze.

Seeing his chance Naruto ran towards the fallen ninja, who was under a ton of debris. As the ninja lifted his head to look around his face was met with Naruto's foot. The ninja flew backwards falling on his back; Naruto quickly rushed the ninja again.

The masked ninja was dazed but only through experience quickly recovered, seeing the blonde ninja charge, the masked ninja quickly jumped backwards as a massive kick hit the spot where he had just stood. Using his weight the masked ninja punched Naruto in the face, the ninja stepped back and was about to strike again when his body froze.

Yamanka Ino sighed in relief, her trap had worked. She snuck behind the ninja while he was focused on Naruto and cut some of her hair off, she then spread the hair all over the ground, when he finally stepped back after punching Naruto he was caught in her trap because he stepped on some of the hair. Her trap used her hair and chakra to completely freeze the movements in the enemy's legs.

Ino yelled at Naruto to attack the ninja quickly while he was defenseless in her trap, Naruto heard Ino and quickly rushed the enemy to seize the opportunity. Naruto noticed many bodies on the ground, belonging to the dead workers that were killed, decided that too much blood has been shed today. Instead of drawing his sword from the sheathe, Naruto took the sword out with the sheathe. Swinging the sword in a wide arc, the sword connected with the mask ninja's head. The head of the ninja bucked back violently as he was hit by Naruto.

Noticing that the masked ninja was unconscious, Naruto looked over to where his sensei was fighting. Both men had numerous small injuries on them, but the man who had bested their sensei before now had two giant gashes along his arms, Asuma had figured out the Ninja's movement and capitalized on the slow horizontal and vertical slices of the huge sword.

Everyone stopped when they noticed a huge group of thugs, wielding various weapons, emerge from the unfinished side of the bridge. The two former enemies noticing that the large group was for them, quickly allied with each other to defend against the thugs.

Seeing the large group head for their tired out sensei, Naruto, Ino, and Shikamaru charged the thugs head on in an attempt to buy their sensei some time to heal his wounds. Naruto leapt at a small group of thugs who had decided to charge the ninja's, wielding his sheathed sword like a club, Naruto turned many conscious and healthy men to unconscious men with concussions.

Ino and Shikamaru used their training and worked as a pair to dispatch many thugs, they defeated many before being cornered. The thugs sneered as they prepared to turn two 12 year olds to kabobs. Their plan was interrupted when an arrow was shot landing between the men and the tired ninja's.

Naruto then heard Inari yell "I told you I wasn't going to be a coward anymore!"

On the other end of the bridge was an army of villagers wielding pitch forks and shovels. The thugs quickly seeing their advantage of numbers crumbling decided to run away, their boss tried to stop them, but was overwhelmed when they all stampeded towards the boat that was behind him.

Gato was captured, and all his money and possessions were given to the villagers. The two ninja's who had been Naruto's enemies, introduced themselves as Zabuza and Haku formerly of the hidden mist. The two missing Nin's left to heal their wounds and find more work, they both praised the genin's for improving so much in just a week before leaving.

After being paid by the villagers using Gato's money, team 8 rested up in Tazuna's house for 2 more days before heading back to the leaf. The villagers gave them a farewell at the newly finished bridge which was later named "The Great Naruto Bridge." When they got back, Asuma announced that the chunin exam was to be held in one month, and that they would only be required to do 1 or 2 D missions a week. The rest of their time would be used for training; all three genins used their time wisely. Naruto focused on the scroll his grand father gave him right when he got back, Shikamaru finally being a little motivated asked his father to teach him new moves, Ino knew she was the weakest person in team 8 trained fiercely with her father to become stronger.

Yamanaka Ino focused on learning genjutsu, she grew strong as she focused on confusing enemies using illusions, she would produce huge monsters to distract opponents as her team dealt with the others.

Shikamaru was drilled by Asuma to learn more taijutsu and he also learned the shadow binding technique that used a hand to slowly crawl up his opponent's body. The hand then grabs a hold of their necks to slowly breaks their necks.

Naruto trained using his scroll, the scroll held 2 stages of the ultimate technique, the first stage Naruto was able to learn, but the 2nd stage was still far above his current ability. The 3rd stage was the final technique that councilmen all reached, Naruto trained greatly to reach that goal.

All three of them became great friends, going out to eat after every training session they had together. Slowly all of them grew into a strong team, Naruto the leader, Shikamaru the tactical genius, and Ino brought a unique flavor to the team.

Naruto currently returning home after a dinner they had decided to have the day before the chunin exam. Naruto's attention was quickly caught when he noticed 8 figure in an alley way, he quickly hid himself as he watched the situation. A little kid was being bullied by a much larger boy who wore make up. A girl with pink hair was desperately trying to stop the make up wearing boy as two smaller children hid behind her.

Another girl who was probably his team mate asked him to stop, but he refused, the boy whose name Naruto remembers as Uchiha Sasuke interfered by throwing rocks at the make up wearing ninja. Everyone was surprised when a red haired ninja with very poor sleeping habits interrupted them.

The sleepy boy ordered his team mates to stop, the Sasuke guy said something and they were about to walk away from each other when Naruto got a good idea. Even though he hated to show off, Naruto knew that if he played mind games with these genin's now. Then he'll have an advantage over them in the exam. Naruto quickly molded some chakra into his feet as he performed the Flash Step technique, he appeared above a small roof crouching down towards the alley way as he said "Can I play hide and seek too?"

Everyone froze when they heard him; he had succeeded in surprising all of them. Looking at their shocked faces Naruto was quite happy; he then noticed a burning glare from the make up wearing ninja.

Naruto decided to anger him more by saying "It seems that amateurs will be entering the chunin exam, it shall be quite a boring test."

Naruto quickly poofed away, when he came home he burst into laughter, he knew what he did was wrong. Finally stopping to catch some air, Naruto quickly scolded himself for picking up some of Ino's bad habits.

Tomorrow would be a big day for the rookie 9.

* * *

A/N: So I decided to skip their training now, and just show it in flash backs :P You guys will have to wait to see Naruto's 1st stage.

I guess I need beta readers, if you are good with grammar email me and we'll talk?

Peace


End file.
